‘Increase in MLAs with criminal records’

Average rating of legislators by NGO falls from 58.8% in 2016 to 53.4%

The number of legislators with criminal records in Delhi Assembly has increased from 20 per cent in 2015 to a whopping 56 per cent, the MLA report card released by NGO Praja Foundation has noted.

The report has also found that the average score of the city legislators has reduced from 58.8 per cent in 2016 to 53.4 per cent this year.

There has been a huge increase in the number of MLAs with criminal records, the report card revealed.

“In February 2015, 14 out of 70 MLAs had FIRs registered against them. In December 2016, this figure increased to 39. Also, by the end of 2016, 25 out of 70 MLAs had chargesheets filed against them,” the report revealed.

“These statistics should ring alarm bells for the current set of public representatives. When the present MLAs took over the reins, there was an air of optimism and hope that they would bring a change in governance.

However, as of now, they do not seem to be matching up to the expectations

Report released by NGO Praja Foundation reveals that by the end of 2016, 25 out of 70 MLAs had chargesheets filed against them

of the citizens who voted them to power,” Nitai Mehta, the founder and managing trustee of Praja Foundation, said.

It has found that the score of the legislators has seen a reduction on most major parameters, i.e. attendance; issues raised; quality of issues raised; perception of public services; perception about corruption; and clean criminal record.

“The sharpest dip was seen with respect to the aspect of ‘clean criminal record’, with the average score reducing from 51.72 per cent in 2016 to 11.53 per cent in 2017,” it added.

The analysis conducted by the foundation also found that a large proportion of MLAs raised very few questions in the Assembly and even the quality of issues raised has seen a significant dip.

The total number of issues raised by MLAs also reduced from 951 in the year 2016 to 926 in the year 2017.

Speaking about the findings, Milind Mhaske, the project director of Praja Foundation, said: “Such a low quality of issues raised means that the MLAs are raising very few issues on matters which fall directly under their domain of responsibility.”

According to the report card, the top three performers were Mohinder Goyal (AAP), followed by Bhavna Gaur from AAP, and Jagdish Pradhan from BJP. The bottom three performers were Sahi Ram, Rituraj Govind, and Dinesh Mohaniya from AAP.